Many vehicles have a cargo area located at the rear of the vehicle. The cargo area is often located rearward of the passenger seating compartment. The last row of seats in the passenger seating compartment is typically configured to be removable or stowable to expand the cargo area.
Removable seating assemblies maximize cargo space when removed. Removable seating assemblies are also advantageous because a flat vehicle floor may be exposed when the seating assembly is removed, thereby facilitating cargo loading and increasing cargo stability during transportation.
However, removal of a seating assembly from the vehicle to increase the cargo area also has some disadvantages. Seating assemblies may be heavy or awkward and may therefore require significant physical exertion to remove from the vehicle. Moreover, the vehicle owner must have a safe place to store the seating assembly after it has been removed from the vehicle. The storage problem is exacerbated when the seating assembly needs to be removed to load cargo at a remote location where the vehicle owner does not have a safe place to store the seating assembly.
The prior art also includes seating assemblies that are stowable within a vehicle adjacent a spare tire tub. For example, some seating assemblies have a seatback that rotates forward to lie horizontally above a seat cushion, and the exposed surface of the folded seatback serves as the cargo floor; but the seat cushion or stowage mechanism may interfere with the spare tire tub when the seating assembly is in the stowed position. Moreover, the vertical cargo space may not be optimized because the seatback may not rest horizontally upon the vehicle floor, but instead rests at an angle that reduces the vertical cargo space.